Whoniverse
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The Whoniverse, a portmanteau of Doctor Who and universe, is the fictional universe in which Doctor Who, Torchwood and other related stories take place.[1] The term is used most widely to categorise characters or other items which are involved in multiple media, such as Sarah Jane Smith from Doctor Who, K-9 and Company and Sarah Jane Adventures, or Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and Torchwood.
It is similar to the popular term "Buffyverse" used to describe the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel and the term "Xenaverse" used to describe the setting of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.
[edit] Overview
Whereas the original series of Doctor Who kept exploration of its fictional universe to a minimum, simply following the Doctor wherever he went, the revived series is a different matter. During the show's absence between 1989-2005, much of the audio plays and books were of unknown canonicity. Russell T Davies began including concepts from this material however, such as in the backstory to the Time War.
Various events in the current series are also recurring elements, such as Aliens of London, The Christmas Invasion and Doomsday, being alluded to many times in Love & Monsters and the spin-off Torchwood.
[edit] Features
Typical features of the Whoniverse are planets inhabited by human-resembling species (e.g. Mondas, Gallifrey etc.) and other humanoid species. Time travel is possible, as was interdimensional travel, but since the fall of the Time Lords it is noted as being significantly more difficult. [2] Alien technology is often far more advanced than Earth technology, often creating seemingly magical feats such as resurrecting the dead and retrocognition. There seems to be - or have at a time been, some order to the universe, with rules regulating time travel. The universe itself seems to have some natural agents to clean up problems such as Reapers who appear to clean up time paradoxes.
There appears to be at least some indication that there is a monotheistic deity and adversary[3] with some place in the universe, despite atheistic themes in Torchwood touched upon in its pilot and elsewhere, with the suggestion that there is in fact no afterlife. However, contradicting this, Random Shoes featured a principle character who appeared to become a ghost after his death due to an alien artifact.[4] He appeared to visibly "move on", possibly to an afterlife, after returning to the physical world momentarily.
Typically, people on Earth are at least to some extent aware of alien life. The United Nations Intelligence Taskforce and Torchwood Institute are examples of federal responses to the knowledge of extraterrestrial life. Aliens have invaded Earth many times, most notably in recent years as part of The Christmas Invasion and Doomsday. People, as put by the Doctor have "an amazing capacity for self-deception" (Sunnydale Syndrome). Some people explain the events of these invasions as "mass hallucinations" caused by psychotropic drugs planted by terrorists in our water. [5] However others form conspiracy groups, having figured out the presence of The Doctor and alien life.[6] [7]
Unique aspects of Earth itself in the fictional universe are also expanded upon. It is explained that supernatural entities have always inhabited Earth[8] in addition to extraterrestrial visitors. The planet Earth was also once one of twin planets, with its sister Mondas. 21st Century Earth is also portrayed in recent depictions as possessing technology above reality's own, most commonly associated with UNIT and moreso the Torchwood Institute - the planet even is described as being "armed" in The Christmas Invasion. Earth's future has been portrayed in many different ways, sometimes with little difference to the present and others as a greedy hyper-industrialised world and other times a Utopia or dying planet.
[edit] Inclusion
It can be considered debatable what is canon to the series and which is not, and whether canonicity and Whoniverse inclusion are the same things. While it is established that the classic Doctor Who series (Doctors One to Seven), the television movie (Eighth Doctor), the new Doctor Who series (Doctors Nine and Ten) and the official three of the program's four spin-off series Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and K-9 and Company are definitely the canon and the mainstay of the Whoniverse, the other spin-off media's inclusion is unclear.
Boom Town seemed to suggest that at least some spin-off media is part of the canon story, referencing The Monsters Inside. And some spin-off media while not referred to by the canon, does not contradict it. Furthermore, as is part of the nature of a fictional universe in which time travel is possible, alternate timelines become possible, which gives the possibility of literally retconning events by writing over them within the universe's fictional history. This creates an inherent flexibility in what can count.
The Gallifrey Chronicles also suggest that perhaps, the Eighth Doctor's three spin-off media series of adventures would lead to three separate incarnations of the Ninth Doctor: portrayed by Rowan Atkinson (Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death), Richard E. Grant (Scream of the Shalka) and Christopher Eccleston respectively. The Tenth Doctor stated in Doomsday that every decision we make creates a fractured alternate universe, which would comply with this theory.
While spin-off media may be considered by some part of a fictional multiverse, and the core canon only describing the fictional universe, some Doctor Who media seem to contradict both canon and the basic laws established in the fictional universe, more of a work based on the original Doctor Who, most notably Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD which therefore cannot exist in the Whoniverse. Also the fourth spin-off series K-9 Adventures is not produced by the BBC but by Jetix Europe with no BBC involvement, it remains to be seen if this series will fit into series canon, or be only loosely based upon its titular character, K-9.
On another level, Russell T. Davies himself contributed to spin-off media during Doctor Who's absence, and the show does make occasional references to this grey area. Oblique references to the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip ("kronkburgers" in The Long Game) and the Virgin New Adventures (the planets Lucifer and Arcadia, mentioned in Bad Wolf and Doomsday respectively, and the Doctor's title "The Oncoming Storm", mentioned in The Parting Of The Ways) but these are most likely playful tributes rather than deliberate attempts to dictate a Doctor Who canon. Still, these references are innovations peculiar to the 2005 series; the original 1963–1989 series never referred to adventures published in other media. Overall, Davies has said that he is "usually happy for old and new fans to invent the Complete History of the Doctor in their heads, completely free of the production team's hot and heavy hands."[9]
[edit] References
- ^ The Whoniverse Guide to Canon
- ^ "Rise of the Cybermen." Russell T. Davies, Tom MacRae, Graeme Harper. Doctor Who. BBC. 2006-05-13.
- The Doctor: Used to be easy [to travel between alternate universes]. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind.
- ^ "The Satan Pit." Russell T. Davies, Matt Jones, James Strong. Doctor Who. BBC. 2006-06-10.
- ^ "Random Shoes." Russell T. Davies, Jacquetta May, James Erskine. Torchwood. BBC Three. 2006-12-10.
- ^ "Everything Changes." Russell T. Davies, Brian Kelly. Torchwood. BBC Three. 2006-08-22.
- ^ "Rose." Russell T. Davies, Keith Boak. Doctor Who. BBC. 2005-03-26.
- ^ "Love & Monsters." Russell T. Davies, Dan Zeff. Doctor Who. BBC. 2006-07-17.
- ^ "Small Worlds." Russell T. Davies, Peter J. Hammond, Alice Troughton. Torchwood. BBC Three. 2006-11-12.
- ^ Davies, Russell T. (25 May 2005). "The Evasion of Time". Doctor Who Magazine (356): 66–67.
